Survival. Nearly half of the paintings in the caves of Lascaux in France featured bulls, bison, stags, and many horses, emblematic of the need to hunt. Similarly, the paintings at Chauvet Pont D'Arc, also in France (which at present are the oldest known cave paintings and probably date to 35000 years ago) contain images of these hunting animals, but also, interestingly, predators such as lions, bears and panthers. The Venus statues, such as the Willendorf woman are typically thought to...

Survival. Nearly half of the paintings in the caves of Lascaux in France featured bulls, bison, stags, and many horses, emblematic of the need to hunt. Similarly, the paintings at Chauvet Pont D'Arc, also in France (which at present are the oldest known cave paintings and probably date to 35000 years ago) contain images of these hunting animals, but also, interestingly, predators such as lions, bears and panthers. The Venus statues, such as the Willendorf woman are typically thought to be fertility symbols, pointing again to the Paleolithic preoccupation with simple survival and in the case of fertility, the need to reproduce and ensure that the species continues. It is interesting to contemplate that even the earliest of peoples, whose days were likely consumed with the procuring of subsistence, had a need for a creative outlet, and found it by creating colors such as the red ochre that is so predominant in the cave paintings--and then expressing themselves artistically.

You have to think, what was within those cave paintings and what was being portrayed. Often times, when you go back to look at them, they are mostly pictures of different kinds of animals and hand prints. The reason as to why those were significant was because cave painting was a form of documentation for their later generations. This helped to show their grand children what to hunt for food, mark their territory, and show evidence that human life existed many years ago.